High Strength, Electrically Conductive Pore-free TiO₂ Ceramics made by Hot Isostatic Pressing

A high-purity, single-phase TiO² ceramic with high density, strength, and electrical conduction was developed as a key structural material for the production equipment of semiconductors. Green bodies were made of high purity rutile TiO₂ of very fine powder. They were sintered in air at 1200 °C for 2 h and then were hot isostatically pressed (HIPed) in argon at 1000 °C, 150 MPa for 2 h. HIPed TiO₂ ceramics were found to be electrically conductive and pore free. Their relative density, specific resistance, and bending strength were 100%, 1 Ω ·cm, and 300 MPa, respectively. No strength degradation was found to the temperature up to 1000 °C. This material has high potential for use as electrically conductive structure materials in the semiconductor industry.